Children’s Museum seeks financial support to remain at Hanover Mall

Wednesday

Oct 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2013 at 8:27 PM

Hanson Children’s Museum, which opened in the Hanover Mall this summer, will remain at the mall through the rest of this year. After that, however, museum director Juvelyn Hartweg is not making any definite plans.

Scott MacKeen

Hanson Children’s Museum, which opened in the Hanover Mall this summer, will remain at the mall through the rest of this year.

After that, however, museum director Juvelyn Hartweg is not making any definite plans.

“We’re here until the end of the year. If we do not get the kind of financial support we need, we’re not going to be able to continue here,” explained Hartweg, who opened her history-themed museum at the mall in August. “We’re really hopeful the support will move our community leaders to be involved.”

Hanson Children’s Museum has scheduled a fundraiser for Friday, Nov. 15 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Emilson YMCA’s Laura’s Center for the Arts, also in Hanover. Featuring entertainment from ImprovBoston, the night will include food and hors d'oeuvres as well as a cash bar. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door.

“This is our lifeline,” said Hartweg of the fundraiser as well as donations the museum receives elsewhere. “No amount is too small.”

She said the museum has enough in the bank from past fundraising to remain in town through December and is currently reaching out to community groups for financial support and sponsorship to remain beyond that point.

“To date, we have not seen a lot of financial support. We’re trying to reach community leaders. We’re not a business where you can go to the bank and ask for a loan. We’re a nonprofit,” she said. “So many families still don’t know we’re here. Every day, we get new families. It’s word of mouth.”

Hartweg and her eight-member board of directors opened the fledgling Hanson Children’s Museum in the Hanover Mall after initially founding the organization in Hanson in 2009. The museum was originally going to be housed at the former Ocean Spray warehouse on Route 27 in Hanson. However, proponents were never officially able to open their doors there. The government at the time cut funding to grant programs such as the one the museum was relying on to get started, said Hartweg, a Hanson resident originally from Dedham.

It was going to cost Hart’s group at least $150,000 to renovate the dilapidated warehouse on their own, she said.

“We knew we needed a new home,” said Hartweg, explaining that the museum already had a relationship with the mall since holding its annual Diversity Day there from 2010 to the present. “We started talking about [opening at the mall] in the spring. I was really nervous because you don’t usually have a children’s museum in a mall. But we’re so happy we’re here. We are so, so thankful. What a gift.”

Since opening, the museum has received a steady stream of visitors from Hanover and other neighboring towns, said Hartweg. The museum has hosted numerous educational events geared largely toward teaching children about American history. It currently has four exhibits and has plans for as many as 17, just not the funding.

“We have 600 students coming through here in the next four weeks,” said Hartweg, noting that this includes children from Kingston, Marshfield, Plymouth, East Bridgewater and “hopefully Hanover.”
She thanked the Hanover Cultural Council for “keeping our programming alive” through previous donations.

In time, Hartweg said, she hopes the Hanson Children’s Museum can follow in the model of the Cape Cod Children’s Museum or the Children’s Museum in Easton, two other organizations that started small and garnered the community support to grow and develop into regional museums for families outside Boston.

“There is a need for it. We are really in a position to thrive and grow. [The mall] gave us that first step. We really just need people to network for us, to champion a children’s museum,” she said.
That includes potential new board members, she said.

For more information or to donate to the Hanson Children’s Museum, call 781-635-6318 or visit www.hansonchildrensmuseum.org.

The museum is located in the Sears wing of the mall, across from Old Navy. The hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays.